|
|
F M N e w s: WEAPONS OF MASS INSTRUCTION
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Published by the International Society for Individual Liberty.
Please forward to anyone who might enjoy FMNews. To join or leave
this free list, see:
http://free-market.net/features/lists/
o Weapons of mass instruction
o Remember to vote for Freedom Book of the Year!
o Freedom Book of the Month for December, 2003
o Events
WEAPONS OF MASS INSTRUCTION
------------------------------------------------------------
Musings on freedom by FMN CEO, Louis James
ISIL and Free-Market.Net are certainly "weapons of mass instruction"
in the war of ideas over how society should be structured. But I
want to discuss some more literal weapons briefly.
Yes, guns.
I know many libertarians in the US regard the "gun issue" as
something of a "fringe" streak within libertarian thought, a
distraction to be tolerated for some, and an outright
embarrassment that others wish would just go away. Freedom-minded
folks in Europe (except those I've met from Switzerland, who seem
to remember Wilhelm Tell) often seem to think that guns are a
rather peculiar American quirk.
That's okay.
I know I won't change many minds about guns today. I just want to
explain why *I* do think the issue is important ... why -- word
warrior that I am -- if you were to "wand" me on any given day,
you'd likely find a heavy concentration of iron on me. (If it's
not a gun, it might be a knife, or ...)
I bought my first gun before I moved out West, where such tools
are commonplace, I admit, for political reasons. I had never been
particularly fascinated with guns, nor felt any particular desire
to own one. Bill Clinton changed that. The way things were going,
I figured I'd better buy a gun before it would become impossible
for me to do so, and exercise that right.
It was a big, black Dan Wesson in .44 magnum (a "Dirty Harry gun").
To be honest, it intimidated me at first. But once I got used to
it, and its powerful recoil, I was able to pick up just about any
gun and shoot it without flinching. And I got better. It was *fun*
learning to shoot out the black center of a paper target at 50
feet. It was a great feeling of achievement when I learned to hit
a man-sized object at 125 yards.
That's about when the gun ceased to be a political statement, and
became what it should be: a tool for self defense. I am no great
marksman, but I am *competent* with guns. Not only can I protect
myself and my family from intruders in my home, but I can keep a
respectable number of Bad Guys a good distance from my home.
And that's very important to me. Marauders may not be common in
the places I choose to live, but there is evil in the world. I am
not the least bit interested in becoming a victim, seeking redress
for my grievances through some court -- what redress can there be
for an abducted, violated, murdered child? I am interested in
*preventing* the intolerable, not being forced to tolerate it
anyway.
I couldn't be happier if I never have to use my tools for self
defense. But I would use any tools I could get hold of, regardless
of any laws to the contrary, if my life or those of my family (or
friends, or possibly innocent strangers too) depended on it.
"Better to be tried by twelve than carried by six."
So, my motivation is personal, but, since there are politicians who
have made careers out of disarming quiescent populations and trying
to disarm people like me, I also have a political interest. I often
wonder, as L. Neil Smith says, what kind of moral degenerate would
rather see a woman raped (devastated, probably scarred for life, if
she survives the attack at all) than see her with a gun in her hand.
Apparently, there are plenty of such people, including so-called
feminists, and so-called liberals, and even so-called conservatives.
And they know that they can gain the support of ill-informed voters
by playing on their fears.
I think this is why many gun-owners, not just me, don't just shut
up and exercise our right to keep and bear arms (RKBA) in private.
When large numbers of people believe Hollywood movies that depict
guns shooting by themselves, all but sprouting feet to chase their
owners around and kill them, they don't just disarm themselves
and leave us alone; they want to strip me and millions of safe,
responsible people like me of my tools for self defense. I'm not
a particularly big guy, and I don't have time to become a Kung Fu
expert -- I need those tools (if I don't want to simply surrender
my fate to whatever safety and justice the police can secure for
me, in what little time they have left after chasing harmless pot
smokers and vitamin takers all over the countryside).
This is why RKBA is such a huge issue in the U.S. -- why I wish
it were a bigger issue in other countries. There are an estimated
85,000,000+ gun owners in the US. If only one in ten were
politically active, that would be a voting block of 8.5 million
people. That's about 8.5 times more votes than the US LP has ever
gotten, and something like 20 times what it got in the last
presidential election, if I remember rightly. Many observers
believe the "gun vote" tipped the balance in several states,
including Al Gore's native Tennessee, in the 2000 election,
costing him the presidency. Democratic candidates for president
are notably quieter about guns this year.
Electorally-mind libertarians would do well to remember this, as
the Rs and Ds betray gun owners again and again. Make no mistake;
they almost always do, as our allegedly conservative Republican
president from Texas has shown with his support for breathing new
life into the so-called assault weapons ban, which is about to
expire. (Why would anyone want an "assault rifle"? Those rifles
are the best, tried and true technology for defending a home or
a farm from human predators -- not to mention a homeland from
legal or freelance foreign terrorists.)
But wait, some folks might ask, especially those overseas: your own
personal interests and the statistics of American politics aside,
is America not a more violent and dangerous place because of all
those guns? If guns are dangerous, should we sweep that under the
carpet for your sake, or for the sake of electoral expediency in
the US?
There is a vast body of literature on these issues, so I will
simply summarize by saying: no.
Okay, I'll toss in a few quick assertions for those who don't have
time to read all the links on "gun rights" in the FMN database
(479 of them, as of today; see:
http://www.free-market.net/directorybytopic/guns/).
o Violent crime is high in American cities, most notably New
York, Chicago, and Washington, DC, where strict laws have been
passed against firearm ownership, leaving the law-abiding
disarmed, and the criminals with easier targets. However, it
is drastically lower in rural America, where the presence of
firearms in houses is safe to assume.
o Violent crime has been on the decline in the US for years,
during the same time period that laws have been passed in most
states making it easier to carry concealed weapons.
o Violent crime has risen in the UK and Australia since their
recent efforts to disarm vast numbers of law abiding people.
o Recent mass shootings in Holland and Germany, where they have
more victim disarmament ("gun control") than most anti-gun
American politicians even dream of, show that violence is a
human characteristic, not an American one -- and that laws
disarming victims don't prevent it.
o Aborted mass shootings in America show that having people with
guns -- or even just training in firearms -- around is far
better than waiting for the police to show up (and take hours
to apprehend a couple punks with guns while they continue
shooting their helpless classmates).
For more info, see:
http://www.free-market.net/features/bookofthemonth/gunbias.html
http://www.isil.org/resources/lit/gun-contrl-patriotism.html
http://www.isil.org/resources/lit/guns-safer.html
Whether or not you are persuaded by any of this, there's a specific
reason I'm bringing it up now. A very good friend of mine, a man
known to his friends as "The Hunter", was arrested recently for
carrying a concealed weapon in Ohio. Ohio is one of the few states
left where you can't get a permit to carry a concealed weapon,
something that Hunter has permits to do in his home state and many
others. Ironically, thanks to a new law just passed and signed,
concealed carry will be legal in Ohio by the time Hunter stands
trial.
This is important because Hunter is more than just a friend. He is
a fundamentally decent man, trustworthy and reliable, generous to
a fault, and a great believer in freedom and the American spirit.
He's not a gun-waving fanatic, but a man highly trained and skilled
in the use of firearms -- and prepared to do just that in defense
of himself and those around him. This is a profoundly moral thing
to do. As Edmund Burke said, the only thing necessary for the
triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.
Hunter is not the sort to be contented with doing nothing to
prevent evil. He's not a vigilante, but a prepared citizen. He
is ... perhaps the sort of man some victims of mass shootings
might have wished had been around when the psychos showed up.
Sadly, people like him are about as ill-appreciated by those who
benefit from their preparedness as Aragorn's rangers were by the
hobbits of The Shire, whom they protected silently over the years.
The local press in Ohio made much of the tools for self-defense
he had in his SUV, as well as the tools he had for clearing
vegetation from phone company equipment in the field (he's a
telecom technician), and even his replica "Lord of the Rings"
sword. The police appeared to have even mistaken his homemade car
remote for some kind of "detonator", and leaked that fantasy to
the press.
Fortunately for Hunter, Free-Market.Net and other online groups
that care about freedom have been ale to help spread the word
about what Hunter is really like. Hunter's Friends at the Liberty
Round Table (LRT) put up a web page describing his plight:
http://www.free-market.net/rd/115868889.html
But LRT is a small group, so it was good that FMN covered the story
in Freedom News Daily, our news digest that goes out to thousands
of freedom-lovers around the world every weekday morning. Word
spread quickly, and donations came in fast and furious for Hunter's
legal defense fund. Most remarkably, LRT's web mistress was
contacted by the local paper in the county where Hunter was
arrested, and that paper published a story telling the truth about
what kind of man Hunter is. It was amazing, almost a retraction of
earlier slanderous (but very exciting, I'm sure) stories about
weapons stashes and detonators.
If you don't get Freedom News Daily (FND), I urge you to sign up at:
http://www.free-market.net/news/
(There's a lot of freedom-related stuff happening in our world
every day; FND helps you keep tabs on it.)
>From this, it's pretty easy to see that the FMN/ISIL combo is
indeed a weapon of mass instruction. We network the pro-freedom
movement worldwide, not only helping those who care about freedom
locate resources and inform themselves, but helping them to reach
out to their communities, the press, and even legislators with
facts, ideas, and arguments for freedom.
What may not be so obvious is that guns themselves may also be
considered weapons of instruction. Consider:
o Even unused guns make a difference, deterring crime where
criminals know there is a better chance that their possible
targets may be armed. The difference in crime rates between
such areas and areas where potential victims have been
disarmed is quite instructive.
o When someone skilled takes friends who "aren't into guns"
out to the range and shows them how to use these tools
responsibly -- something Hunter loves to do and has done
many times -- important instruction is clearly going on.
Even people terrified of guns have been known to find their
fears dissolving upon exposure to real guns (which do not
up and shoot themselves at everyone around) and competent
training. This instruction can be repeated indefinitely
with the same gun.
o When a gun is used in self defense, something that happens
something like 2,000,000+ times per year in the U.S., some
very powerful instruction of criminals may be taking place
-- either that or their early retirement.
o One almost never hears positive stories about defensive gun
use in the press, just the ones where people get hurt -- but
even those are swamped out by the number of stories about
unarmed people being victimized. Once people notice this, it
too becomes very instructive about how public opinion can be
molded and used in modern society.
Now, I would not tell anyone who doesn't like guns, or thinks
they would not be able to apply possibly lethal force to a
criminal, that they should get a gun. Fortunately, it is not
necessary for anyone in particular to own or use a gun in order
to benefit from these often unappreciated weapons of mass
instruction. All it takes is a few people like my friend Hunter,
and the world becomes a saner, safer place.
REMEMBER TO VOTE FOR THE FREEDOM BOOK OF THE YEAR, 2003
------------------------------------------------------------
Our Monthly free drawing:
http://www.free-market.net/
Remember, freedom-lovers: you get to pick FMN's Freedom Book of
the Year. Just stop by the FMN home page and vote for your choice
of best freedom-related book published in 2003. It can be fiction,
a scholarly treatise, a policy analysis, or whatever you liked
best.
So stop on by the FMN home page and let us know your favorite,
and you may just end up winning a $100 gift certificate from
Laissez Faire Books, the world's greatest freedom bookstore:
http://www.free-market.net/
Note: to be fair to authors of books published in December, we are
keeping this contest open until March 1, 2004. There will be a new
drawing on the FMN home page starting on February 1st, but we'll
post a prominent link to the Freedom Book of the Year contest for
those who don't read this message before then.
FREEDOM BOOK OF THE MONTH FOR DECEMBER, 2003
------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.free-market.net/features/bookofthemonth/
"Diversity: The Invention of a Concept"
by Peter Wood
http://www.free-market.net/features/bookofthemonth/diversity.html
"Here's a good psychological-type question for you. What do
these things -- affirmative action bake sales; Wellesley
College; the Supreme Court; and the increasing failure of
America's public schools to educate students -- all have in
common? Armed with a good knowledge of current events and some
shrewd guessing, one could likely get the answer within five
tries. If you've already read December's Freedom Book of the
Month, it's a no-brainer. The common thread is diversity ..."
EVENTS
------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.free-market.net/directorybycategory/events/
Events:
1] EARLY BIRD SPECIAL for ISIL's 2004 World Conference is almost
over. ISIL's World Conferences combine a unique blend of
enjoyment and presentations on liberty that make them just about
the most fun conferences any libertarian can attend. There's
always plenty of great ideas to stimulate your mind, and a fun
vacation that works even for non-libertarian spouses. If you
register by January 31st, you can get 200NZ$ off the hotel &
registration package. Time's almost up!
http://www.free-market.net/rd/662253672.html
2] Willing workers Hill briefing. AZ Rep. Jeff Flake and Dan
Griswold are the featured speakers addressing illegal
immigration, 1/28 at 12 p.m. EST at B-369 Rayburn House
Office Building, Washington, DC. Register (free) online or
by email (kbrand@cato.org).
http://www.free-market.net/rd/610084514.html
3] Confessions of a media maverick. John Stossel will speak on
his forthcoming book at an Independent Institute policy forum,
1/30/04, in Oakland. Reception begins at 6:30 p.m. PST.
Register online (price varies) or by email:
tickets@independent.org .
http://www.free-market.net/rd/90031719.html
4] Skeptical environmentalist lecture. Bjorn Lomborg will speak at
the Adam Smith Institute on environmental policy on 2/26/04, in
Westminster, UK. Please email for more information:
steve@adamsmith.org.
http://www.free-market.net/rd/587052369.html
For more events, please see:
http://www.free-market.net/directorybycategory/events/
That's it for the second half of January, 2004. Thanks for reading,
caring, and supporting our work for freedom.
For liberty,
Louis
____________________________
Louis James
CEO, Free-Market.Net
FMNews is sent twice a month to 11,000 subscribers. Free-Market.Net
is operated by The International Society for Individual Liberty,
a 501(c)3 non-profit. http://free-market.net/
| http://isil.org/
For contributions:
http://www.isil.org/store/membership.html#donate
---
[This E-mail scanned for viruses by Declude Virus]
|
